Sudden large oil leak - 1998

[awisniewski]

Within the last 75 miles i developed a large oil leak coming from area of the lower timing belt area. I lost probably a quart of oil in 75 miles and the leak is a steady drip with the engine running, off no oil leaks. It appears the oil is coming from the area to the left of the crankshaft pulley (when looking through the right front tire well). I changed the timing belt, water pump, crank and cam shaft seals at 105k miles, now my car has 170k miles. I didn't touch the oil pump as far as a remember.

Can someone give me some advice in what I'm seeing in this photo before I start taking the engine apart. I'm point to what appears to be the source of the oil leak with the white pencil in this photo. It doesn't seem to be the oil pan gasket from what I could see.

1998 Camry 170k miles



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[RichieRichJP]

Looks like the oil pump. There's a lot of recent topics covering this so search.
You can buy a gasket kit for it...
I don't see why you didn't replace it along with the other timing components.,.

[dave1811]

I would bet it is your gasket for the oil pump body that is leaking. Mine was leaking a lot and a friend who works on Toyotas for a living said that is a common problem with the 5SFE when they get brittle. I replaced mine when I did the timing belt/wp job and it fixed my problem. Also replaced the valve cover gasket since that is also a common problem for the 5SFE engine. I think the below are part numbers for yours. Verify with Toyota parts sites. Also, replace the oil pump seal which should be

Toyota factory part# 15165-74020 (Seal, Type T Oil):

Toyota factory part# 15188-03011 (GASKET, OIL PUMP BODY)

I am assuming U.S. made so verify with the Toyota parts department before ordering. Gary from Newman Toyota of Georgia should be able to get them for you.

Hope this helps!

[carsrus]

Fel Pro makes a kit which comes with both oil pump seals and the crank seal, it also comes with an additional gasket that mounts the pump to the block but that ones not needed. It much cheaper then the dealership route as they wanted like 17$ for just the pump body gasket.

Get the cam seal and valve cover gasket set as you need to remove the cover to change the cam seal. The 5sfe loves to piss oil but this should take cover of the biggest problems.

[awisniewski]

Thanks to those that responded with something useful. It was good to get confirmation on my fear since i'm out of town and don't have my repair manual with me and coveralls to do the repair. I'm going to be calling the local Toyota dealer monday morning to see if they have the two seals for the oil pump in stock. I'll probably change out the timing belt again since its got close to 65k miles on it now also.

Such a bummer to have to do this repair now, suppose its better now then next week when I won't have the time. I wish they'd of made it easier to work on this area of the engine, i hate pulling the crank pulley and the timing belt cover off, ugh! I'll be driving home(50 miles) to do the repair in my home garage so here is to hoping my car makes it. I'm planning to stop every so often to check and refill the oil if necessary.

[dave1811]

I ordered my oil pump body gasket online thru a Toyota dealer and it was $4.90, the seal for the oil pump body was $6.37. Total of $11.27 plus shipping. I ordered several other things also since I recall it was like a $10 shipping fee minimum. Got them in about 4 days. Ordered a Thermostat, the valve cover gasket, and several other things at the same time. About 50-60 percent cheaper than the local Toyota dealer.

[JohnGD]

The oil pump shaft seal and the o-ring should be replaced with each timing belt, not to mention cam/crank seals and pulleys. If an old shaft seal is worn the spring can cut a groove in the pump shaft, and that's like another $30-40, search for TN old threads on this.

The Fel-Pro crank set mentioned has the pump o-ring. It's $5.03 online but probably double in local stores. And the oil pump seal is $3. Here are the pictures:

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=128254
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=253543

Did you change out the water pump last time? If not definitely do so this time. There are OEM kits on eBay (Aircabinman) or dealer parts 30% off form TN sponsors like ToyotaPartsMan. Here is an aftermarket list of what you should consider replacing:

GATES K030295 Micro-V AT Power Steering Belt $5.14
GATES K050435 Micro-V AT Alt/AC Belt $14.10
FEL-PRO TCS45920 Crankshaft Front Seal Set $5.10
FEL-PRO TCS45641 Camshaft Front Seal $3.66
NATIONAL 221820 Polyacrylate Oil Pump Shaft Seal $2.86
GATES TCK199 (1 Belt, 1 Tensioner, 1 Idler) Timing Belt Component Kit $52.89
STANT 48278 180° w/Jiggle Pin OE Type Thermostat $10.94
AISIN WPT010A Water pump w/o housing $30.79
FEL-PRO VS50304R1 Valve Cover Gasket Set w/Spark plug tube seals $18.26
Subtotal $143.74
Shipping about $20

Originally Posted by awisniewski

Thanks to those that responded with something useful. It was good to get confirmation on my fear since i'm out of town and don't have my repair manual with me and coveralls to do the repair. I'm going to be calling the local Toyota dealer monday morning to see if they have the two seals for the oil pump in stock. I'll probably change out the timing belt again since its got close to 65k miles on it now also.

Such a bummer to have to do this repair now, suppose its better now then next week when I won't have the time. I wish they'd of made it easier to work on this area of the engine, i hate pulling the crank pulley and the timing belt cover off, ugh! I'll be driving home(50 miles) to do the repair in my home garage so here is to hoping my car makes it. I'm planning to stop every so often to check and refill the oil if necessary.

[awisniewski]

Hi all!
Thank you all your time to write and provide me information. I decided because of my time constraint to get my parts from the Toyota dealer in town. I changed out the oil pump o-ring seal and it appears that was the source of the oil leak. While I was in there I replaced the oil pump shaft seal also and the timing belt. Everything looks good right now and there is no oil leak!

I did replace the water pump when I did the timing belt at 105k miles, that still looked good when I was inspecting everything the other day. The original alternator (appears to me) seems like its showing signs of wear on the bearings (some noise ).

As a side question regarding the timing belt cover and the tensioner pulley, what is the purpose of that access plug on the cover? It seems loosening the bolt on the pulley would just just introduce slack into the belt and then couldn't tighten it back up just through that tiny access plug hole in the timing belt cover. Anyone know what its purpose is for?

Also anyone with any tips on how to quickly remove the timing belt cover bolts? I bought myself a set of thumb wheel ratchet wrenchs (example photo) to use next time. It seemed I wasted a lot of time unscrewing and reinstalling those bolts using just my finger tips (at odd angles) because a mini ratchet wrench just keep spinning.

[1996camry]

I used 10mm socket to remove the bolts or 10 mm racket will do the trick.

[hardtopte72]

That really sucks. I have seen this way too often especially with water pumps.

Also it seems like you plan to leave that water pump on there. I would replace everything again.

Timing Belt
Water Pump
Cam Seal
Crank Seal
Oil Pump Seal
Oil Pump O-Ring/Gasket
Thermostat
Thermostat O-Ring
Thermostat Gasket
Water Outlet O-Rings (next to the thermostat)